Don't Forget Pentecost!

A time to be renewed in our spiritual gifts

At Christmas, the incarnation, the Father gives the Son.

On the Easter weekend, the Son gives Himself.

At Pentecost, the Father and Son give the Spirit.

Yet, for many of us, and in many streams of the Church, while Christmas and Easter are wonderfully celebrated, Pentecost— the celebration of the giving of the Spirit— is a non-event. Yet have you ever thought about what it would be like if the Spirit had not been given?!! Have you pondered how absolutely essential the Spirit is to our walk with Christ?

Jn 14:12, 15-17

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father…

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

HE WILL BE IN YOU

Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 4:7 that we are like jars of clay, earthenware, made from the soil and shaped to be a container for the person of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps this reminds you of Genesis, where God forms Adam from the earth. It also reminds me of Jesus’s first recorded miracle, where He supernaturally transformed the water that filled six stone vessels into wine. How does it happen? We know not, but we rejoice with the incredible gift of the indwelling of the Spirit. He is no longer just among us as He was in the old covenant; He is within. We have become His habitation.

A Christian is not just one who believes or even just obeys-- a Christian is one who is inhabited by God.

There is much to reflect on as we ponder the importance of being filled with the Spirit, but one aspect that has been especially highlighted to me this week, with Pentecost just recently past, is the reality of the gifts of the Spirit.

“But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’” Eph 4:7,8

He has given us gifts. The central gift, of course, is the Spirit Himself, but then we each have specific charisms, gifts of the Spirit, as listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, where the Holy Spirit manifests Himself through us. These gifts are not our possessions. They don’t come from us; they are not just heightened human abilities; they are from God. Neither are they meant for our exaltation, but they are manifestations of the Spirit through us— for Christ’s glory.

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” 1Cor 12:7

I wonder, however, if some of us have pulled back from functioning in the gifts of the Spirit?

THE GIFTS IN DISREPUTE

Recently, there has been an exposure of some who have built lucrative ministries on the practice of faking supernatural gifts, primarily the word of knowledge and prophecy. Drawing information from Facebook and data mining in other ways, then pretending it’s all knowledge that has come supernaturally by divine revelation, is utterly appalling. Those who have practiced this fraud will ultimately need to face God and account for their deception, but the collateral damage is a widespread loss of confidence in prophetic ministry throughout the Body of Christ.

Yet —the truth remains.

The truth that God is with us, God is in us, and God, the Holy Spirit, moves through us to speak, teach, encourage, heal, strengthen, and more. The fruit of His activity is the expansion of the kingdom, the redemption of lives, with love, peace, joy, and glory going to Jesus.

While we may be tempted to be gun-shy about the gifts of the Spirit because of recent scandals and want to just avoid them, I would hope (and am praying) that we would instead receive the recent exposure as a corrective from the Father. It seems to be a good time to go back to the scriptures and renew a commitment to sincere and pure devotion to Christ (2Cor 11:3,4). This devotion includes being surrendered to being used by Him, for the building up of His body, the Church.

Even though Paul saw much misuse of the gifts of the Spirit, he didn’t instruct the Church to withdraw from these expressions, but penned these words to the Thessalonians:

Do not quench the Spirit.

Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good. 1 Thes 5:20, 21

Despite what has been done in the name of the Lord that is false, let’s obey this exhortation and steadfastly hold on to what is good— including the wonderful gifts of the Holy Spirit that God knew would be needed in the Church. So, this is a great time to get before the Lord and ask Him to again confirm which gifts of the Spirit He has given you.

Others might speak into this, sharing what they discern. Spiritual gift tests can also be helpful. But as we seek to renew our discernment and practice of our spiritual gifts, there are a few things that we can notice. These markers indicate the manifestation of the Spirit rather than just human personality or ability. Watch for these.

1) When you are moving in your spiritual gift, there is an ease. You feel you are catching the wind in your sails rather than labouring with oars on choppy seas. God is flowing through you. This doesn’t mean you don’t need to apply yourself to grow in your gift, (for example: increasing your knowledge of scripture), but the Spirit is actually empowering you as you function in your gift (1Cor 12:11).

2) When you are moving in your spiritual gift, there is a heightened sense of His presence. It’s like God is shining through and making Himself known. This brings us the immense delight of being used by Him and partnering with Him for His kingdom. It truly is an incredible joy, even if no one else sees or appreciates how we have been used by God. It becomes a place of intimacy with Christ.

3) When you are moving in your spiritual gift, you are infused with boldness. Look at Peter and John in Acts 3:4ff, or Stephen in Acts 6:8ff, for examples. The early disciples didn’t have to muster up human courage to preach, or heal, or perform signs and wonders in these settings; boldness came with the gift. They were buoyed up with it, and before they knew it, they were preaching or healing or ministering in other ways.

When they prayed for a continuation of the activity of the Spirit, they prayed for the continuation of boldness to empower them. And God granted their request.

“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” (Act 4:29,30)

4) Finally, when you are moving in your spiritual gift, there is fruit. Lives are changed, hearts are strengthened, Jesus is revealed. The fruit is spiritual, so it is not always measurable with our common metrics (numbers in attendance, offerings, etc.), but it is kingdom seed planted in the garden that grows, multiplies, and keeps on growing, at times more in hidden places than on display.

The fruit from the ministry of spiritual gifts also lasts; it’s not a momentary blip, but the words of a true prophetic word, or a truly inspired teaching, or the impact of a sacrificial act of service remain with us, continuing to shape us, encourage us and strengthen us, sometimes decades after they happened.

DOUBLE DOWN ON THE TRUE

Most of us don’t have a way to bring correction to the way spiritual gifts, especially word of knowledge, prophecy, and healing, have been faked and recently exposed. We are left grieving over this abuse and the dishonour it brings to God, as well as the damage to the body of Christ. (Grieving is putting it mildly.) But this is not all we can do; we are not left powerless. Of course, the most important and powerful thing we can do is to pray; prayer will bring a deeper cleansing, accountability, and the restoration of the fear of the Lord. Let’s do that.

But we can also, in a proactive way, defy the false by doubling down on the true! A way for the Church to grow into a healthy, holy, practice of the gifts of the Spirit is to lean into them, not avoid them. We need to take back the ground that was yielded to fraudsters and see the true gifts of the Spirit flourish in our churches. Pentecost, after all, is a glorious gift that changed everything.

Let’s not forget it!